Santa Fe, New Mexico

Along the downtown Santa Fe plaza, you will run into an obvious architectural beauty. It's the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis de Assisi. It's placed perfectly in the plaza where the sunset will make the massive structure glow or have interesting shadows cast off its facade. The cathedral itse...

Canyon Road in Santa Fe New Mexico, is home to one of the largest gatherings of fine art galleries featuring original work you'll find. Santa Fe is considered the 3rd largest distributor of art in the world, behind New York and Paris. The difference with Canyon Road is the unique environment tha...

People come from all over the world to see sunsets in the southwest. This is a great little spot tucked away in a neighborhood I stayed in for a month. On Rodriguez street, there is a parking space for "visitors" of a particular house in the neighborhood (marked on the map). I didn't see a car t...

Begin this trail from the Cerro Gordo Trailhead which is only about 10 minutes from Santa Fe Plaza. You can park in the lot near the intersection of Cerro Gordo and Upper Canyon Rd. The lot will fill up on the weekends so arrive early. From the lot, take the short Nature Conservancy trail to the ...

The Dale Ball Trail system, covers a wide swath of terrain between Santa Fe County, the City of Santa Fe, the National Forest, and The Nature Conservancy with a 22 mile network of trails in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Located a short distance from downtown Santa Fe, it is the...

Hyde Memorial State Park yurts are nestled high in the Sangre de Cristo mountains amongst the ponderosa pines, and sleep six and provide a modern setting with roots in ancient tradition. Their location in the State Park provide easy access to park's vast trail system.Each bed has  an encapsulated...

Pacheco Canyon Road / Forest Service Road #102 leads from the foothills of the Sangre de Cristos deep into the mountains, beginning with breathtaking views across to Valles Caldera (particularly at sunset) and ending deep in the mountains near Big Tesuque Campground after more than 2100' of eleva...

Accessible June through October, snow lingers on the trail late into the summer. This is a very popular, well-marked route so if it's solitude you're seeking, you'll probably be disappointed. At least on the weekend.The trailhead is at the parking lot for Ski Santa Fe. You'll climb from 10,250 to...

Starting at the ski basin above Santa Fe, where parking is ample and the drive to reach it is staggeringly beautiful, you head north from the bottom of the parking lot from a well marked trailhead.  The climb starts right out of the gate, and at a starting altitude of 10,000 ft above sea level yo...

This trail is a little tricky to get to, so be sure to stop at the Pecos NHP Visitor Center first for directions. You will also need to retrieve a gate code from the ranger. I would recommend picking up a guide inside the Visitor Center so you know what you're looking at on the trail (important)....

The Galisteo Basin Preserve south of Santa Fe, New Mexico is community conservation area of some 10,000 acres with 28 miles of publicly accessible trails for hikers, mountain bikers, and equestrians.The Happy Valley Overlook is a great, quick way to get an epic view of a large portion of Galisteo...

The park is easy to get to from Santa Fe. It's about 30 miles SE on the I-25 highway that leads you through Pecos. Once at the park, the 1.25 mile loop trail begins and ends at the visitor center. Don't forget to stop in there. It's surprisingly nice with some terrific history of the area dating...

Pecos National Historical Park offers up the "grand slam" for hiking, which is a bit of a misnomer because they only have 3 trails and a grand slam indicates you would have completed 4 of something. In order to achieve the "grand slam" you need to hike all 3 trails in one day, completing approxi...

The South Pasture Loop trail, while part of the Pecos NHP, isn't in the main park. Currently, this trail is only open on the weekends and the road gate closes at 1pm. The trail itself closes at 3pm, and takes about 2-3 hours unless you plan on hiking for speed. No pets allowed. 0.7 miles down th...

Start your hike from the Visitor's Center and head out on the Main Loop Trail to begin. You can hike the loop in either direction, either first crossing the river across from the Visitor's Center or heading out from directly behind the Center. If you start from across the river, you'll begin with...

Hiking at Tent Rocks is a must-do for anyone in the northern New Mexico area. It's an accessible trail that gives you incredible rewards with little effort. The cone-shaped "tent rocks" are the result of erosion following a volcanic explosion 6-7 million years ago, making for some incredible and ...